


Better On Him

by Kira_Dattei



Series: Moments Between Missions [14]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Crew as Family, Established Relationship, Headaches & Migraines, Hoodies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 07:11:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13230618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: Prompt: "I took your hoodie and I'm not giving it back."Shepard's hoodie is as comfortable as it is recognizable.





	Better On Him

**Author's Note:**

> What better way to welcome in a new year than to finish up one of these and get it posted? Sure, it ran away from me a bit, but I'm actually sort of expecting that to happen nowadays.  
> Anyway, Happy New Year, and hope you enjoy.

 

“Good work, as usual, Shepard. I’ll be watching for Lieutenant Vega and Vakarian’s reports to be forwarded along. Hackett out,” the Admiral’s image faded out and Shepard let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his face a bit.

There was no doubt that he preferred verbal reports to written ones, but there were just some days that he wished one would suffice instead of both. Sure, it was mostly a courtesy to Hackett, Anderson, and the Council – the only ones he bothered with these debriefs – but that didn’t mean he always wanted to do it.

To be fair, he’d sort of wanted to pass the mission off to someone else, but Cerberus involvement meant the Normandy got top billing.

Really, Shepard just wished the Illusive Man would take a break from all operations so they could focus on the Reapers and the Crucible instead of bouncing between the two enemy forces like they were.

Shepard turned and approached the door, hesitating a second for it to slide open, then stepped through. He glanced to the left and saw Liara leaning against the wall just beside the door. She gave him a smile as he noticed her and moved to fall into step next to him as he turned and walked toward the War Room. “Garrus just gave me an update on his total kill shots from the last mission,” Liara stated, sounding amused and Shepard gave a grin. He wouldn’t be surprised if Garrus actually expected Liara to keep a running tally of his kills to add to his reputation.

“He and Vega spent the entire time arguing over who was more impressive down there. I swear, I’m never taking both of them on a mission ever again,” Shepard responded, half serious. They weren’t _that_ bad, but he’d given them both a few dirty looks throughout the five hours they were at the colony.

“Probably a good idea. Everything has become a competition between those two, and while it is amusing, it can be quite juvenile to witness.”

“To be fair, Vega is outwardly competitive with everyone. So is Garrus, but he hides it just a little bit better.”

“I suppose.” Liara paused, looking the Commander over a bit and he just waited for her to do so, passing by the war map and waving to Tali and Traynor on the way by. “You look tired, by the way,” she finally declared as she waved him into the conference room, but left the door open to let him know there wasn’t something too serious going on. He’d been starting to worry.

“Yeah, long day,” he replied as he leaned his back against the table in the middle of the room with Liara standing between him and the door, her posture relaxed as she crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg. “I’m just glad nothing was pressing about this mission that made me have to deliver the report in my armor. I swear, there’s nothing worse than gradually realizing how much crap made the trip back to the ship as I’m relaying intel to the Council.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Liara responded with a laugh. Her expression shifted quickly, though, becoming more serious. Something about how she was holding her posture told him that there still wasn’t anything horribly wrong. “I wanted to talk to you about something. I thought it would be best to wait until after you saw to your duties with the Admiral.”

“Anything wrong? You don’t usually track me down after a mission, knowing I’ll pay you a visit soon enough as I make rounds.”

Liara looked down and Shepard was worried that there might actually be something going on, except he caught the expression on her face and figured she was choosing her words. It was something he saw a lot more often back on the SR-1, but she still had her moments where she needed a bit more thought about what she said. Her and Kaidan having that in common was one of the reasons they got along so well.

Right, he’d been looking forward to finishing up so he could go check on Kaidan. Oh well, a few minutes weren’t going to hurt anything and Liara deserved his time just as Kaidan did, even if it was for different reasons.

“As I said, I thought it was best to wait until after you saw to your responsibilities.”

Shepard figured Liara needed a break from whatever her mind was going through. “Wow, repeating yourself. How badly do you not want to talk about whatever it is?” Shepard gave Liara a slight grin as she looked up at him and she shook her head.

“I was just looking for a bit of privacy as it is a personal question and not to do with anyone’s official duties,” she replied shortly, but there was plenty of amusement in her tone so he knew he hadn’t messed up.

Shepard outright smirked then, his eyes glancing over Liara’s shoulder to the speaker beside the door. “You hear that, EDI? Make sure Joker stays out of this,” he raised his voice a little to say.

He wondered if Liara got so used to having Glyph hovering around that she forgot about EDI. Or she just didn’t care, which was just as likely.

But Joker was another matter entirely and they all usually found out after the fact when Joker used EDI’s monitoring system to his eavesdropping advantage.

“Of course, Shepard. I have made sure to cut his feed once Dr. T’Soni spoke of seeking you out in this way. I assumed she’d wish privacy,” EDI’s voice echoed through the room and Shepard knew she was enjoying herself.

Liara glanced over her shoulder with a smile lighting up her expression. “He’s complaining about it, isn’t he?” she asked.

“Profusely,” EDI answered easily enough and then the room went quiet to signal that EDI had left them to their conversation as well.

“Now that we’ve actually got some privacy, what’s going on, Liara?” Shepard asked to get them on track, his tone friendly and welcoming.

Liara dropped her arms from their crossed position, as if she was making sure she appeared as open as she could, then looked back to him with a curious expression. “I was just wondering why you didn’t bring Kaidan on this mission.”

Shepard’s mind got caught up a bit on her statement. That was it? “What?” he asked, just because he had to make sure it was really something so simple.

“He’s been a constant on landing parties since he returned to the Normandy. It was strange to me that he wasn’t assigned to this mission, especially as the order came from Admiral Hackett.” Liara made good points, naturally.

Shepard wondered if he should have seen this coming, someone bringing up how often he brought Kaidan along on missions. What could he say: Kaidan’s skillset made him an ideal squad member on a lot of the missions they dealt with. Shepard loving him until his dying day had nothing to do with it.

He did let out a bit of a laugh as his shoulders let out tension he hadn’t realized was there. He’d been worried all along that something was wrong despite reassurances.

“It’s no big deal. The mission was a pretty straightforward assault; Garrus and Vega are better with that sort of thing.” Liara nodded acceptance at that: no one would argue that those two were the literal strongest members of the Normandy crew and that was without considering Garrus’ shooting talent. “Besides, Kaidan had to bench himself for forty-eight hours: mandatory medical S.O.P.”

Liara’s expression, which had gone concerned at his mention of Kaidan, quickly became understanding. “Migraine?”

“Yeah, it hit him last night when he was working with me on mission prep. It’s a pretty bad one, too. When I headed out this morning, he was still out cold,” Shepard explained easily enough.

It seemed as though Shepard was finally getting used to the idea that sometimes Kaidan would be doubled over in pain and there was nothing he could do to change that. He could just be there to help and give Kaidan a safe place to be and wait things out. He didn’t like it, but at least he could accept it, which was handy since Kaidan’s migraines hit about once every two or three weeks.

He couldn’t remember if it was an increase from the SR-1. Of all the things he remembered about Kaidan from that time, migraine frequency wasn’t one of them.

“I won’t say I’m pleased he’s in pain, but I will admit I’m relieved that’s all it is. I was worried something had happened between you two for him to not be included in the mission.”

Shepard frowned a little at what she was suggesting. “You mean like I was avoiding him because of a fight between us or something?” he asked for clarification.

“Yes, basically.”

“You’re kidding, right? Have you ever had Kaidan Alenko pissed at you?”

Well, now Liara looked really amused. Great, he walked into a subject she’d remind him of whenever she felt like it.

“Not that I’m aware of. We get along quite well,” she answered, a bit too innocently even though Shepard knew she was telling the truth. It really did take a lot for the mild-mannered, not-prone-to-violent-outbursts Kaidan to get upset with someone, especially if that someone was as equally easygoing like Liara.

“Well, I get along with him just fine, too. Doesn’t mean I’m immune to him getting ticked at me every once in a while.”

“I see. Now I’m curious as to what Kaidan being mad at you looks like. I’m sure you two have argued being nearly eight months into your relationship, but you have done an admirable job of keeping them private.”

“You figure out pretty quickly that the best thing to do when Kaidan is pissed at you is to let him shoot at enemies. He gets the bulk of his frustration out of his system, he’s able to relax a bit, and he’s less likely to verbally or literally take you down. The verbally sucks enough as it is, but I’ve seen him dent a shipping container with the biotic Throw of a spare rifle barrel.”

He really was just scratching the surface about the potential rage Kaidan Alenko could unleash if provoked. If the teardown he’d gotten on Horizon hadn’t been clue enough, being in a serious, loving, committed relationship with the   guy apparently meant Kaidan had less patience to deal with Shepard’s more reckless tendencies, the ones that put him in what could be considered an unnecessary amount of danger.

Most recently after the issue with Leviathan and Shepard’s solo descent into literal dangerous waters, Kaidan had told Shepard they were sparring. Shepard took four hits, all going to the same spot just above his kidney, caught a bit by his ribs so the impact hurt but didn’t shut him down like a solid kidney shot could do. It was about that time that he realized that just because Kaidan usually didn’t make a show of aggression, it didn’t mean he didn’t have a temper to show up if he thought the situation earned it. After that – Shepard leaving that sparring match with seven hits to the same spot – he’d decided to try and only make stupid decisions when Kaidan had a chance to shoot at something else before he had a chance to face off against the Commander in private.

Thinking about it now, it was more likely that it was a privilege to see this side of Kaidan, that it was the biotic being more honest about his emotions with John than he was with others. It wouldn’t be the only difference in what Shepard saw of Kaidan that no one seemed to.

Liara, for her part of this exchange, was obviously fighting showing more amusement than the wide smile lighting up her face. And it wasn’t a friendly smile at that, more like one of those satisfied ones she took on when she got a particularly valuable piece of information that would get her what she wanted out of someone.

“The great Commander Shepard, afraid of his boyfriend’s wrath,” she teased, confirming his thoughts about what her opinion of his little admission was. He didn’t mind, though. He knew she wasn’t as bad as Garrus when it came to private things like this and wouldn’t take it too far.

He was still pretty flippant in his response. “Well, yeah. It’s like dealing with you: if wrath has been unleashed, it’s safest to mitigate the fallout and definitely stay out of the destruction path.”

Now, Liara laughed and Shepard did allow the thought that he’d been wrong before about people and maybe he shouldn’t have basically admitted that he was about as hesitant to tick Liara off as he was Kaidan.

It was just that he loved Kaidan and didn’t like being a stressor for him and Liara was a powerful person nobody should fuck with. He liked to think this all came from intelligence on his part.

“Anyway, like I said, nothing to worry about. We’ve got plenty of missions lined up over the next few weeks that Kaidan is sure to be assigned to, so all will be right in the universe,” he continued on, not even bothering with subtlety in the distraction.

Liara controlled her laughter but the look she gave him wasn’t encouraging. “You realize how fortunate you are that I have great enough respect for you and Kaidan to keep this between us, don’t you?”

“Not so much ‘fortunate’ as I know who I can tell things to.”

“Apparently so.”

Shepard gave Liara a sly look now, “I’d say you’re the ‘fortunate’ one that I still don’t hesitate to tell private details to you considering how involved you are with the ship’s betting pool focused on Kaidan and my relationship.”

There was a slight twitch to Liara’s mouth and Shepard knew she’d been caught off-guard, though it was hard to tell what had accomplished that. She recovered quickly enough, as expected.

“You say that as though you have never put credits down on who wins the latest sparring match.”

“Yeah, but that’s training and it motivates James. I’m not trying to predict when we’re going to be submitting paperwork for a marriage certificate.”

Now, Liara was trying to rediscover that innocent look that had been genuine just a few short years ago when they met. “We all merely want the two of you to be happy. At least no one is taking bets on how long until you two break up. Except maybe Joker and Vega, but they just like having as many opportunities to win something as they can manage.”

“Heathens,” Shepard muttered, but his demeanor cracked as Liara just smiled again and he joined her. He knew those two didn’t actually _want_ to see him and Kaidan break up.

He was simply familiar enough with his crew to know that they really didn’t mean any harm with it: there were only so many ways someone could amuse themselves while in space for months with the same people.

Shepard pushed himself from the table and walked up beside Liara, patting her shoulder as he passed, the asari turning to follow him out the door. “At least let me know where the betting pool stands. That would be the polite thing to do.”

“It’s a tie between you asking him in the middle of a firefight or him just coming back from shore leave with a ring.”

Shore leave was definitely the most likely outcome, Shepard admitted to himself. The thing was, as comfortable as they were with each other while in Shepard’s cabin, it was another matter completely when they got some time in his apartment. It was really there that Shepard got an idea of what spending the rest of his life with Kaidan would be like, and he did like what he saw.

“Where’s your credits at?” Shepard asked, pausing before going through the door to pass through the security checkpoint.

Liara faked looking thoughtful. “It’s difficult to tell. I’m inclined to think he’ll take the initiative on this, just as he did in inviting you on the date that started this, and he won’t wait around for you to find the right time. But then I recall some of Kaidan’s personality quirks and wholeheartedly believe it will happen on shore leave.”

Shepard chuckled at how well she knew them as he stepped through the door, greeting the two officers as they cleared him and then Liara through security. Liara continued to follow him to the elevator, selecting to be brought to Deck 3, likely returning to her room. He waited until it was heading down before he selected it to take him to his cabin, deciding to at least see Liara to her deck before parting ways.

As the elevator eased to a stop and the doors slid open, Liara turned to him with a serious but caring expression. “We all know that we are approaching the end of this war, to whatever end. We don’t have the leisure of time we once did. And as humans, you have even less than I. Don’t let any go to waste for sake of hesitation and doubt.”

Shepard couldn’t help but give her a smile at that. “Thanks, Liara. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Of course, Shepard. Tell Kaidan hello for me if he’s feeling better,” she said as she stepped off the elevator and left him alone as the doors slid shut and he was on his way to his cabin and Kaidan.

Count on Liara to get his brain working.

It wasn’t as if he’d never thought about taking the dive on committing everything to Kaidan like it would mean to get married. There’d been plenty of nights, especially lately, where the hours he spent awake after Kaidan had dozed off thinking along those lines. What if he could just tell anyone and everyone that Kaidan was his husband, be as open about their relationship to everyone instead of just his crew. And, sure, they’d already made some changes on their respective files that indicated there was something between them, enough that anyone looking at their files would likely be able to perform basic math to reach the correct conclusion.

Damn, that would probably never stop feeling fantastic, calling Kaidan his husband and seeing his ring on his finger. Hell, there were still days where Shepard caught sight of his dog tag around Kaidan’s neck and his next few minutes would be spent wrapped around the biotic.

Although, some of that could be attributed to that he only saw the tags when Kaidan was in some state of undress and they were usually alone.

The elevator door opened, startling Shepard a little from his thoughts, and he walked off and toward his door as he keyed his code into his omnitool to unlock it. When he’d left that morning, he’d made sure to activate the privacy protocols, only allowing himself and Chakwas entry to make sure Kaidan got peace and quiet until he was okay to interact with people again.

When the doors opened and Shepard saw the only light coming from a dimmed fish tank, he figured Kaidan was still fighting off some measure of pain. When he stepped within view of the bed and saw the shape of Kaidan’s body curled up completely under the covers, he knew the migraine hadn’t passed. Kaidan didn’t sleep all that much unless those L2 side effects were in full swing and this would be approaching eighteen hours of him being out.

Shepard moved quietly around the room, grabbing a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt out of his dresser before heading toward the bathroom to take a relaxing shower, happy to get rid of the sweat and grime of the mission. At least he didn’t get any injuries from the day, not even superficial ones, and so he didn’t have to worry about cleaning anything or dealing with medi-gel. It wasn’t a hassle, but there were just days when he was glad to jump in and out of the shower and be done with it. He brushed his teeth after showering, then dried off and got dressed, ready to be in bed.

He stopped off at his terminal, checking for any priority messages from anyone before shooting off a message to EDI that he only wanted to hear about anything if it was an emergency. He’d taken care of his responsibilities so he should be fine for a few hours of privacy. He powered down the monitor, wanting to minimize the amount of light reflecting around the room, even as the screen facing away from the bed meant not much light made it to where Kaidan was sleeping. Even when the migraine passed, Kaidan would still be sensitive to light for another few hours, especially since this had been a harsher flare-up.

Shepard liked knowing what Kaidan needed for his migraines.

He walked down the steps and to his side of the bed, the side closer to the fish tank and in more direct view of the door. And, wow, had that been something of a dance between him and Kaidan the first few months after they started sleeping together, both being more comfortable where they could see the point of entry to the room. Eventually, Kaidan had just decided to let Shepard have it, giving the excuse that he was better off being further away from the light of the fish tank, claiming that even dimmed it tended to keep him awake.

Shepard suspected Kaidan would watch the fish swim around and his mind would go to work instead of relaxing.

The Commander sat down slowly, trying his best not to make the mattress move too much with him. Now that he was closer to the lump that was his boyfriend, the blanket pulled all the way over his head, he guessed Kaidan was laying on his left side, facing away from Shepard. He was obviously on his side, based on how tightly curled the body was; Kaidan’s body didn’t regulate temperature well while he was experiencing a migraine so he did tend to sleep as compact as possible.

Shepard felt a soft smile lift the corners of his mouth at the thought of the picture Kaidan made, hidden as it was: the man didn’t let people see him vulnerable and this was nothing but. It was a privilege for Shepard to be allowed this close to Kaidan when he was like this.

Feeling the day starting to catch up to him – easy mission or not, adrenaline wasn’t kind to the body once it wore off – he pulled the blanket down and stretched out under it as he slid closer to the warm body on the other side of the bed. His motions tugged the blanket over Kaidan down enough to expose some wild black hair, the combination of sweat, sleep, and being covered while asleep making Kaidan’s thick hair nowhere near the usual style he kept; Shepard had to fight a laugh at that image. He moved in closer, close enough that his legs brushed up against Kaidan first, then he gradually slipped in so his front was completely warmed by Kaidan’s back. He’d positioned himself a bit higher on the pillows on purpose, making sure his thighs were what brushed up against Kaidan’s ass, not wanting the desire he had for the man that always burned just beneath the surface to come forward right now. Since his shoulders were resting on the pillow beneath him, Shepard curled his left arm beneath his head as he finished situating the blanket around himself, pulling out the slack between his body and Kaidan’s so only their clothes were between them. He then reached out with his right hand, his fingers automatically going to the thick hair and massaging into Kaidan’s scalp just behind the temple.

Kaidan let out a deep sigh in his sleep at the relieving pressure, his body relaxing back a bit against Shepard’s body. Shepard spent so much time with his hands in Kaidan’s hair or around his head and neck that he’d figured out pretty quickly what spots made Kaidan melt and he gladly took advantage of that knowledge when he knew it was a relief to the biotic.

Like now.

His fingers alternated between massaging at Kaidan’s skull and soothing out the knots that had formed in the hair, his mind wandering and figuring out tomorrow. They had one more mission they had to see to and then they had to head back to the Citadel to meet with the asari Councilor, hopefully to get the lead they needed for the Crucible. And hopefully they’d be able to arrange a shore leave soon because they’d been going for nearly six weeks straight without any break. The last thing Shepard wanted was for anyone on his crew to start to buckle under the pressure because all they did was work and forget what they were fighting for.

His crew was fantastic, but ten months of constant pressure from the Reapers and Cerberus would get to anyone and he wasn’t going to allow someone under his command and care to reach that particular breaking point.

He was really winding down, now. His mind was making slower jumps between thoughts and his hand was spending gradually longer spans of time just resting against Kaidan’s skull as his body relaxed. He moved his head forward a bit, nuzzling his forehead and nose against the back of Kaidan’s head a bit as he just enjoyed taking in a few deep breaths of the man’s scent. He stayed close like that, ignoring the slight tickle of hair against his nose as his hand gave one last brush through Kaidan’s hair and then moved down to rest over the man’s hip.

The feel of a familiar thick cloth brushing against Shepard’s arm made him open his eyes a bit. He looked down to where the blanket had moved from is tight wrap around the biotic and exposed enough of his shoulder to reveal what he was wearing: Shepard’s hoodie.

Shepard had to fight off another laugh. Oh, Kaidan was going to be hearing about this. Stealing Shepard’s clothes, especially the hoodie that even a fair amount of people on the Citadel recognized, was just asking for some attention. Well, Shepard would make sure to get his teasing in.

Sometimes, Kaidan Alenko made things way too easy.

Shepard drifted off to sleep soon after with a smile on his face and his arm wrapped around Kaidan’s stomach.

* * *

Kaidan would be in the Starboard Observation Deck. Shepard knew that even before he started his rounds to check in with everyone. After being out of commission for over a full day, unable to look at any screen, Kaidan would be catching up on everything as well as continuing with whatever project he’d decided on. That all happened in that room where headaches took longer to strike and EDI had installed a holo display around the window for him to work off of instead of carrying around a stack of datapads everywhere – definitely one of her better gift ideas.

Shepard had been a bit disappointed when he woke up and Kaidan hadn’t been in bed with him still. He’d been even more put out when he realized Kaidan had already left the apartment, and checking the door log had revealed the doors being opened from the inside about three hours before he’d woken up.

Sure, he knew Kaidan didn’t lounge around in bed once awake: the biotic was irritatingly functional in whatever passed for the morning. He didn’t even drink coffee regularly since caffeine made his headaches worse.

Shepard wasn’t like that at all when he had a choice in the matter.

Kaidan had joked once that it was probably Shepard’s rebellious nature kicking in and countering all the times he was woken up to deal with some emergency; Shepard didn’t necessarily disagree.

He stood up from the table in the mess hall, having grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading toward Kaidan. He greeted a few techs as they passed, but the deck was mostly empty with people either in bed still or at their stations.

The door to the Starboard Observation Deck slid open and Shepard grinned at the sight of Kaidan exactly where he expected him: standing in front of the window with the holo screen activated and multiple screens of data and reports spread out in a way he claimed made sense.

And he was still wearing Shepard’s hoodie.

That made Shepard pause just inside the door as it closed behind him. As surprised as he’d been to know Kaidan had donned his favorite hoodie while in the privacy of the cabin, he hadn’t expected him to keep it once outside. It was a stark contrast to how they usually paid close attention to maintaining a clear line between “personal” and “professional”.

Or, Kaidan just didn’t think about it and hadn’t bothered changing.

Yeah, that was probably it. After all, Kaidan wasn’t all that great with remembering social norms.

And now that Shepard could really take in the sight of Kaidan in his hoodie, he would admit he liked the image. Kaidan did have a standard Alliance hoodie that he wore around the apartment every once in a while, but the blue, while reminiscent of his biotic glow, didn’t look as good as the black of Shepard’s N7 style. His hair matched and the shade of skin darker he was than Shepard was a little more obvious.

Just the little things that were nice for Shepard to look at.

“Come here for the view?” Kaidan said suddenly, making Shepard shake his head a bit to collect his wandering thoughts.

“Hey, if the room didn’t want me to look, it wouldn’t be called an ‘observation deck.’ Who am I to defy the named purpose of a room?” Shepard responded with a grin as he stepped further into the room, coming around the corner of the couch and sitting down behind Kaidan’s position, giving him the best view he could ask for.

Kaidan’s ass made for a fantastic sight to focus on.

And if he kept his eyes down, he wouldn’t actually see the glare Kaidan was sure to be shooting him over his shoulder.

Kaidan gave up after a few seconds and turned back to his work, used to Shepard’s fascination with his ass by now.

Of course, now that he’d won that round, Shepard glanced up and looked over what Kaidan was working on: reports from Earth tracking progress on the front lines. The reports Shepard got were more succinct, providing the base pertinent details without the supplemental statistics and individual reports.

He wasn’t complaining.

“Why can’t your medical leave include paperwork?” Shepard asked instead of going with the “are you okay” that would only get Kaidan genuinely irritated with him. He hated that question.

“That’s rhetorical,” Kaidan stated in response, getting a grin from Shepard. They knew each other so well. “How’d the mission go? I made sure to be in here by the time Vega and Garrus are usually up.”

“Didn’t want to be regaled with their interpretation of events?”

“I’ll wait for the vid; all versions would have about the same amount of fiction.” With Kaidan facing away, Shepard couldn’t see if he was showing any sign of his amusement, but the statement was delivered in the usual monotone Kaidan could almost always maintain.

“The mission went smooth, no problems whatsoever. Say what you will about those guys, they do get the job done pretty efficiently.”

“As long as the mission parameters are primarily point-and-shoot.”

Shepard crossed his arms a bit at that. The biotic was being a little curt for the guys not being in the room; Kaidan respected both crew members too much to really mean something like that. Sure, these are all things Kaidan would say to Vega and Garrus’ faces to mess around, like they would to him, but without them there it was a bit too cruel for Kaidan. Shepard stood and walked over to the side of the window and leaned against his back against the wall to stay relaxed.

Getting his first good look at Kaidan, it was a wonder the man hadn’t locked the doors to keep people out: he wasn’t in pain, but he was obviously still feeling the effects of the migraine. His face was still a bit flushed, there were dark circles under his eyes, and when he reached out to dismiss one of the screens his fingers were shaking just a bit. All that made for an understandable bad mood, even if he really was trying not to get caught up in it.

Shepard couldn’t help but roll his eyes – if not a little fondly - at his boyfriend’s unwavering dedication to his work.

Oh well, it’d be pointless to try and get him to stop but Shepard could at least attempt at distraction.

“You know, thanks to you, I actually had to go with wearing my uniform today.” He gestured at his short-sleeved uniform shirt with an exasperated sigh. “You’re messing up my habits here, Kaidan.” Everyone knew that if it was a day that didn’t require Shepard to be in conference with Council members or Admirals, he stuck to casual wear and encouraged others to do the same. Everybody also knew that his go-to was his hoodie.

Kaidan glanced over at him, then crossed his arms, but Shepard could see the relaxed set of the man’s shoulders. “You’ve got other clothes,” he retorted.

“Not clean.” That wasn’t a lie: he was going to take care of laundry today. He refused to let anyone else clean his clothes: it was kind of creepy to have other people do it and he was perfectly capable of handling it himself.

“I don’t know if cleanliness is the argument you want to go with when it comes to this particular item,” Kaidan said with a slight smirk.

“It’s a hoodie. It’s supposed to be worn multiple times between cleans. It’s your fault for taking it when it’s closer to the washing end of the cycle. And if you’re going to complain about, I say that’s a forfeit of argument and you should hand it over immediately.”

Kaidan’s eyes were losing some of the dull glaze to show he was having fun with the exchange. That was a win for Shepard.

“I’m not a fan of wandering the halls without a shirt on. We’ve got Vega for things like that.”

Wait, he wasn’t wearing anything underneath the hoodie? But Kaidan always had a thermal sleeveless on. Shepard’s eyes looked down at Kaidan’s chest, the hoodie being zipped up all the way to the neck, so Shepard tried to pick out the lines of anything under the thick material.

“Wow, John, if you’re going to mess around with me, you should at least be more on top of things than I am,” Kaidan said after a few seconds passed and Shepard’s thoughts shifted from figuring out if there was a second shirt to just getting Kaidan out of his clothes. “And maybe try and keep your brain in charge of the conversation.”

That round definitely went to Kaidan, complete with bonus points.

At least Kaidan was looking further from needing to back to bed, so there was that for Shepard. Kaidan always benefitted from someone getting him out of his head.

“So, that’s it then?” Shepard said. “I’ve lost my hoodie until further notice?”

Kaidan finally gave him a smile instead of a teasing grin. “You’ll get it off me tonight.”

“It’s officially your fault that my brain is having trouble keeping reins on the conversation,” Shepard interjected. Kaidan getting comfortable enough with them to casually drop innuendos or their sex-life into their conversation was a double-edged sword to John.

“Think you’ll survive that long?” Kaidan asked like Shepard hadn’t said anything.

Shepard pushed himself off the wall and stepped up to Kaidan’s side, pressing in close. He reached both arms around Kaidan’s shoulders, grabbing his right wrist in his left hand to hang in a loose embrace even as he leaned forward and kissed along the shoulder in front of him.

“I don’t know. I could get used to seeing you in it. Might look better on you anyway.”

Kaidan let out a short laugh, even as his left hand reached back to hook his fingers into the pocket at Shepard’s hip. “You’re biased.”

“Very.”

He really was, and he wasn’t sorry. He was allowed to be biased towards the man he loved. Anyone who thought otherwise could take it up with him and they’d better be ready to lose.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just having all the fun with these. If anyone has a prompt they'd like to put forward, please feel free to do so. I'm glad this series is being enjoyed and I love hearing from you guys. Thank you for the kudos and comments having been submitted on this series and I look forward to posting more for people to enjoy!  
> See you next time!  
> Kira Dattei


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